Flu cases increasing in Riverside County, but near normal levels

Riverside County has thus far eluded the influenza epidemic that has struck much of the nation with a vengeance.

“It continues to be an average flu season in Riverside County,” Dr. Cameron Kaiser, the county's interim public health officer, said earlier this week.

On the other hand, more residents have been coming down with the flu in recent weeks. And, in this part of the state, the flu season usually doesn't peak until late January or February, said Barbara Cole, director of disease control for the county Department of Public Health.

So local officials and doctors are still bracing for the possibility of an outbreak.

“We could see increased activity," Cole said. "We cannot predict that, but we are monitoring for the possibility.”

The recent cold snap didn't help matters, she added, because more people congregated indoors where germs are more readily passed from one person to the next.

For California as a whole, there has been a "steady increase" in influenza reports since late December, according to the California Department of Public Health. Still Dr. Ron Chapman, department director and state health officer, said the increase is not alarming.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says California is still among three states -- Hawaii and Mississippi being the others -- without widespread flu.

The Associated Press reported Sunday that four people had died from the flu this season in California.

Cole said there have been no confirmed deaths in Riverside County.

According to a county report, flu activity until recently had been running below what was recorded for each of the previous four seasons.

But flu reports exceeded 2011-12 season levels during the first week of January and the last week of December.

Health officials measure influenza activity by the proportion of people who show up at hospitals and doctors' offices with flu-like illnesses.

During the week ending Jan. 5, 8.5 percent of those who were admitted to hospital emergency rooms had what appeared to be the flu. And 5.3 percent of people showing up at selected doctors' offices and clinics had flu-like symptoms.

Both figures were about average for the last five years, although higher than last year.

The worst season in recent memory was 2009-10, when the swine or H1N1 flu pandemic swept the country and hit Riverside County hard. At times during that season, more than 15 percent of local hospital visits were attributed to the flu.

With the slow start to the season in Riverside County, officials are once again urging people to get a flu shot.

Because of the relatively few cases, there is still time to get protected before the season peaks, Cole said, saying it takes two weeks for the vaccine to fully develop its shield against the disease.

There is plenty of vaccine left.

Tonya Geiger, chief of the county health department's immunization branch, said there are more than 5,000 doses of vaccine available through the county's 10 public health clinics, or family care centers. One of those centers is in Lake Elsinore.

Geiger said approximately 3,500 doses remain in the hands of the county's 20 partner clinics, which include the Neighborhood Healthcare center on Winchester Road in Temecula and the Anza Pharmacy.

She said Riverside County began the season with 21,000 doses to be administered by the care centers and partners.

People don't have to go one of those places, however.

"Their doctors still have them," Geiger said. "And Walgreens and other places still have them."

Kaiser said this year's vaccine has been shown to reduce the chance that someone will catch the flu by 62 percent.

“The flu shot is not a guarantee that you won’t receive the flu,” Kaiser said. But he said it is the best protection available.

Besides getting a shot, Geiger said residents can protect themselves by taking such basic precautions as washing their hands frequently and covering their mouths while coughing.

And if someone has a cough or fever, they should stay home from work or school, she said.

"You know how we are all so dedicated. We come in anyways," she said. "But if you're sick, stay home, because you'll make everyone else sick."

For information about care centers and vaccine, visit www.rivcoph.org.